


Divine Intervention

by Renee_Lytle



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Castiel/Dean Winchester Wing Kink, Gen, trueform!Cas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-03
Updated: 2018-09-03
Packaged: 2019-07-06 15:23:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15888750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Renee_Lytle/pseuds/Renee_Lytle
Summary: Castiel, a Seraph Commander recently self-demoted to Watcher, is sent on his first mission on earth. He's supposed to deal with the rouge soul of a priest who's masquerading himself as an avenging angel, but when he runs into the Winchester brothers Castiel is compelled to watch the events play out instead of interfere.A Castiel headcanon in which our favorite angel shows up in the Winchester's lives much sooner than originally thought.





	Divine Intervention

Castiel knew about the Winchesters, all the angels did; some even took bets on the outcomes of their missions. Some just scoffed and turned away like Castiel had at first. There were plenty of humans who thought they were strong enough to hunt evil. They called themselves hunters and the bar, the Roadhouse, was somewhere they all passed through at least once in America. 

 

There were other places around the world where hunters congregated. The Men of Letters, who’d all but disappeared in America, was the strongest organization in Europe and of more than a little interest to heaven. But Castiel had never really paid attention to hunters until the Winchester boys started in earnest. It wasn’t just that the angel was drawn to them by some unseen force, there were rumors that Dean was God’s Righteous Man—the human embodiment of Michael’s sword.

 

Castiel found himself hoping, for Dean’s sake, that it wasn’t true. Michael was a tyrant, unflinching and cruel in his leadership and it would bring nothing but pain to Dean if he was the true sword. Castiel tried not to question Michael’s actions, the archangel was the leader of God’s army after all, the highest rank in their forces, one of two angels in all of heaven who talked to God directly. But lately something was stirring deep within Castiel’s being. It was a dark and twisted thing that he only recently identified as doubt. It was a subtle poison that had been present for quite a while before he realized it and by the time the Winchesters started hunting it seemed like it was too late for Castiel, doubt darkened the corners of his mind and was present in every action he took in the name of heaven.

 

Before Castiel could talk himself out of it he joined the Watcher Angels who lived within a human timeline. After all, there was something so distressing to Castiel about blinking and missing the Winchester’s lives entirely, losing them to the stretched time that angels normally lived within. So he’d joined the Watcher’s ranks under Raphael and Uriel.

 

Now he could watch each of their missions in human time. The disorientation of the new timelapse made Castiel panic at first. It was like all the sudden he was frozen, trapped within the heaviness of this slowed time that felt like lead had coated his wings and choked his grace. But it hadn’t taken long to get used to and once Castiel’s being was adjusted Uriel sent him on his first mission. 

 

To Castiel’s surprise, and then subsequent suspicion, his first assignment was linked to the Winchesters. There was a priest whose soul hadn’t been able to move into heaven and now he was convincing humans to carry out murders in the name of God. Castiel was supposed to capture the priest’s soul and hand it over to Hell. It was the worst offense against heaven for a human soul to take action in its name. Even if that soul was simply confused.

 

Doubt made Castiel hesitate once he’d located the correct soul and instead, against all the screamed warnings inside his mind, simply watched the events unfold.

 

Sam was so convinced that the priest’s soul was an angel that Castiel found himself smiling, something that he wasn’t aware an angel could even do. He had four faces but only one of them was human-like and he found that he could easily mimic their expressions and when he did so he felt the resounding emotion trill deep within himself. Castiel liked smiling and the feeling it brought. Sam made him smile quite often, he was strong in his faith, even when he was doubtful on the surface.

 

Dean was another story altogether. Castiel marveled at how two people who were related in blood and in spirit could be so entirely different from one another. Dean made Castiel smile too, but there were more emotions around the edges of those smiles that Castiel didn’t know how to identify. The man was arrogant and crass, more likely to pull a trigger and kill than to compromise. Besides his lack of belief in God Dean reminded Castiel of an angel and for some reason that thought disturbed him. 

 

The brothers were at the newest victim’s house looking for answers. Sam was on the man’s computer device, tapping on some kind of plastic board, but Castiel had his eyes on Dean. His face, despite all his efforts to control his human emotions, was so expressive that Castiel felt like he was watching entire lifetimes play out over Dean’s features. 

 

Sam expressed his emotions often enough that they weren’t trapped just beneath the surface, roiling and building to painful heights like they did in Dean. How many different kinds of people were there in the world if even two brothers stood at opposite ends of a spectrum? Maybe they weren’t the ends after all. Castiel started to wonder what every edge of the human experience looked like.

 

The angel’s attention was brought back by the faces of the brothers, who were now both looking at the electronic contraption on the victim’s desk. Each wore an expression of contempt and Sam looked like he was going to be sick. Castiel wasn’t sure how to look at the screen or interpret the words that were present in the multiple squares there, but judging by their reactions it wasn’t anything pleasant.

 

“They were supposed to meet today,” Sam said.

 

A bewildered look crossed Dean’s face and Castiel noticed the lines in his forehead as his eyebrows came up. Castiel mimicked the movement and tried to guess what he was going to say next.

 

“Well I guess if you’re gonna stab someone, good timing.”

 

Castiel found himself raising what would be his eyebrows, if he had such things, without actually thinking about doing it. It disconcerted him how easy it was to act human while in his true form, even if he  _ had _ shrunk himself down enough to fit in the room with them.

 

When Castiel looked back Dean was holding up a paper with the name of the priest’s church and then they started wiping down anything they touched for some reason. Castiel realized he didn’t know much about humans, he’d only ever been to earth once to help kill a nephilim, and hadn’t felt good after that mission. The doubt had been present back then too, but he’d felt righteous in their actions at least, and so it hadn’t plagued him until much later. 

 

That was the most confusing thing of all about Dean. If he was God’s righteous man, which Castiel was starting to suspect he was, then why did he carry so much guilt? Castiel couldn’t read minds like some angels could but he could sense the guilt around Dean whenever he got near him. It was like trying to swim through sand and Castiel didn’t know how the man was still able to move. Even more confounding though was the urge Castiel got every time he neared that wall of guilt surround Dean; it was an almost overwhelming need to lift it off him so that his soul wouldn’t get crushed by the weight. 

 

The longer Castiel watched the brother’s work the more hesitant he became to end it. The angel appreciated Sam’s faith and felt that he deserved to figure out for himself that angels didn’t ask humans to kill other humans. Although he realized that angels just did the killing themselves and he wasn’t sure if this was better or worse. 

 

Since Castiel knew Sam’s faith wouldn’t be deterred by the reality of the case he stood by when the priest revealed himself to Sam and did nothing still when the youngest Winchester almost went after a random man standing on the street. Castiel had his angel blade ready and would’ve stepped in but Dean went after the man instead and Sam went to perform a summoning spell at the church. 

 

Castiel was frustrated at his lack of intervention and disturbed that the consequences of his non-actions weren’t motivation enough to set him straight. Surely if Uriel found out he’d waited they would torture him for punishment. The angel was also panicked at the way he started to think of himself as male when gender was meaningless to them; their race preceded even the idea of different sexes. Still Castiel continued to do nothing but observe and when Dean took off after the man Castiel put himself into the car next to him and wondered what Dean would do.

 

More and more as the mission progressed Castiel sensed the change in Dean’s ideas about the world. His initial confession to Sam about not believing in angels had been surrounded by the pain of losing his mother and hadn’t been an entire truth. Dean wanted badly to not believe in angels but there’d been doubt coloring the edge of his voice even as he said the words. Castiel wanted Dean to know the truth but he also realized that it would break something inside his soul that might never recover. Dean held so firmly to the idea that if there  _ were  _ such things as angels, they would undoubtedly help humans fight evil, and the truth would be the last straw in Dean’s hope for any kind of light in the universe. 

 

Because the truth was that most angels couldn’t care less about humans and God hadn’t shown themselves in eons. No one but Michael and Metatron claimed to still speak with God and even Metatron had been missing for the past few millennia. 

 

Castiel wasn’t sure what he believed in anymore and this sudden realization made his being hurt from the inside out. 

 

Dean was still following the man from a distance and stopped on the side of a street when the man spent a few minutes talking to a woman outside a house. Castiel gazed at Dean’s profile and tried to identify the emotions playing across his face but it was dark and the streetlight above them only illuminated the man’s mouth. Even pinched together like they were, the top one was full and delicately pointed. He suddenly felt a horrible feeling twist the core of his being and he knew then that he was violating Dean’s soul by watching him when he thought he was alone. It wasn’t Castiel’s right to see the true nature of his spirit and so he slipped out of the car and hovered above.

 

He instantly missed being in the warm confines of the cab with the rumble of the engine and the constant hum of music from the radio. Castiel knew he could appreciate it even more with a vessel but he’d been told acquiring one wasn’t necessary for this mission. The mission that he should’ve been done with days ago. The fact that neither Uriel or Raphael had tried to reach him in some way was vaguely disconcerting. 

 

The car slowed beneath him and then pulled off to the side of the street where it sat idling. Castiel came to rest next to the drivers side door and looked in to see what was going on. Dean’s brows were severely creased and he was looking this way and that while chewing on his bottom lip. Castiel realized that the man he’d been following was nowhere in sight. He didn’t know why Dean was so intent on following the man but he launched himself into the air and swept his gaze quickly down the closest side streets. He saw the car almost immediately parked in a wide alley.

 

Castiel dropped back to the ground and resized his being so he wouldn’t accidentally touch something he wasn’t supposed to. Except that was exactly what he was thinking of doing. The alley the man had gone down was across the street from where Dean was even looking and for some reason Castiel didn’t want to see Dean disappointed. 

 

The car’s window was down and Dean was rubbing a hand across his jaw with increasing pressure. Castiel knew he shouldn’t touch him with his hand, he’d know the sensation and might suspect something was there that he couldn’t see, so the angel brought one of his wings around to the front and stretched out the end. It was one of the wings he used for flying so it was sleek and the feathers were softer than his defensive ones. Castiel stopped short just before the feather on the very end made contact. He’d never touched a human with these wings before and he was suddenly very aware that he had nerve endings in all these feathers. They were there so that he could feel the air and move them as needed for the most efficient flight. Castiel would be able to feel Dean’s face beneath his feathers.

 

Castiel closed the distance as slowly as he could. As soon as the tip of his feather touched Dean under his jaw a jolt of energy shot through him. He almost yanked his wing back but somehow remained completely still so he wouldn’t startle Dean and ruin the whole reason for the contact.

 

With his grace thrumming and pulsing through his mind Castiel put the slightest pressure he could on Dean’s face. He didn’t reach a hand up but something flashed in his eyes and he went completely still under the pressure of Castiel’s wing. Once his face was turned toward the correct alley Castiel retracted his wing and took a step away from the car. Only then did Dean reach a hand up to his jaw where the feather had touched him. He glanced all around him quickly but his eyes came back to the alley and soon he was out of the car, rummaging in the trunk. When he closed the trunk he had a sturdy-looking piece of metal and he wasted no time bolting toward the alley.

 

Castiel leaped in the air and hovered over the scene unfolding beneath him. He heard a woman scream right before Dean got to the car and then Dean smashed the window in with the metal object. He then heard a thump and a crying woman, the woman the man had given the flowers to, jumped out of the passenger side door. Dean slid across the hood and asked the woman if she was alright but as soon as she said she was fine the man started the car and took off down the alley.

 

Castiel could only watch in fascination as Dean ran back to his car in order to chase the man down. It was obvious that the man had tried to hurt the woman but she was relatively unharmed and the man wasn’t involved in anything supernatural so why was Dean chasing him down? Wouldn’t the human authorities find him later and bring him to justice?

 

Before they got too far ahead Castiel launched himself after the two vehicles, gliding above them at an easy pace.

Then Castiel did something so impulsive that the speed of his decision and action blended together and before he could think through it, he’d already done it. The angel sat in the passenger seat of the man’s car as he sped down the road trying to evade Dean. There was a knife on the floor of the car and Castiel realized that, while he hadn’t actually done anything, the man had every intention of doing something terrible. Something evil. Would the man do it again if he got away? Dean certainly seemed to think so. Which was enough for the angel to make his next impulsive move.

 

He flew high enough to observe the coming traffic and when he saw the large truck coming from another direction he steered the truck into another car in the approached intersection, careful to make sure the other humans weren’t hurt in the process, and swung the truck around so that it’s cargo was facing the man who was now braking to avoid getting into the crash in front of him.

 

With a tiny flick of his mind Castiel sent one of the metal pipes from the truck’s cargo directly into the man’s chest.

 

His car eventually came to a stop and Dean, who’d swerved off the side of the road, came jogging up to the scene with a mix of emotions in his wide eyes. Dean walked toward the man’s car and stood looking in through the broken window for quite some time. 

 

Suddenly, even though Castiel now stood behind him, Dean turned toward him and for a fraction of a second they locked eyes. Then Dean blinked and was looking through the angel once more with a suspicious crease to his forehead. He shook himself as Dean finally turned back to the scene. The sharp edges of some euphoric feeling had cut at Castiel the moment they’d locked eyes and it thrilled him as much as it terrified him. 

 

Dean couldn’t have actually looked at him. Human’s couldn’t handle an angel’s true form, their eyes usually burned out of their skulls when they did see one, and Dean’s green eyes were still very much intact. But Castel  _ had _ seen his pupils focus on him, even if it was only for a mere nanosecond, and the knowing penetration of that stare unsettled him to the center of his being.

 

Castiel quickly made sure the other people involved in the accident were alright before leaving without a glance back. 

 

Sam would’ve figured out it was just the spirit of a priest by now and Castiel needed to make sure that the soul left the land of the living. He wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to send the priest’s soul to Hell but by the time he got to the church the decision was no longer his to make. The priest who was still alive had read the spirit his last rites and his soul had moved on to be judged at the gates of heaven. Whether he got in now or not was no longer Castiel’s problem, although when Uriel found out the priest’s soul wasn’t sent straight to Hell he’d be punished severely.

 

___

 

Eventually Dean confessed to his brother that the man’s death seemed like Divine Intervention. Castiel should have been pleased by this turning point in Dean’s ideology but all he felt was sadness, because there was nothing divine about an angel killing an evil man. Angel’s had been ordered by God to protect the innocent. What Castiel did was simply what angles should have been doing all along.

 

“Are you even there?” Castiel asked the empty night sky. He didn’t hear or feel or sense anything for a long time, so he simply turned away and prayed with all his might that he’d run into Dean Winchester again.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm adding spn writer credits to this fic because it uses a specific episode and even specific dialogue from that episode. So the main plot arc and the dialogue aren't mine. Obviously the character's aren't mine either but I wanted to give credit where it's due in regards to the plot and dialogue.
> 
> Most of this fic is taken from Season 2 Episode 13 "Houses of the Holy." Written by Sera Gamble.


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